This handbook is a practical resource for sustainability education and operations, developed specifically for 2-year colleges. These reports are useful for faculty, administrators, staff, and students, providing examples of real sustainability strategies and initiatives that have been implemented at community colleges across the U.S. These projects can be replicated as is or customized by any college employee.

These resources and activities are intended to prepare higher education students for 21st century careers in green building and sustainability industries by integrating sustainability across the curriculum. Faculty are provided with access to resources and processes, organized to aid in teaching about sustainable topics. Toolkits are available on a variety of topics, including green building, zero waste, LEED, and sustainable land design and development. To access the materials, you must log in with a free user account.

Students can often help to facilitate communication between disciplines and across campus because students engaged in sustainability projects generally collaborate outside their major. This webinar will help educators and college staff to recognize how students can serve as bridges across disciplines to advance sustainability, learn how student projects and internships are used at colleges to develop and refine communication, and develop ideas on how to use these approaches at your own institution.

A study shows a transition to 100% clean, renewable energies is highly realistic – even today, with the technologies currently available.

Christian Breyer, Professor for Solar Economy at LUT University, Finland and Hans-Josef Fell, President of the Energy Watch Group, present on their latest joint publication, the study on Global Energy Systems based on 100% Renewable Energy.The study, published April 2019, is the first of its kind to outline a 1.5°C scenario with a cost-effective, cross-sectoral, technology-rich global 100% renewable energy system that does not build on negative CO2 emission technologies.

Webinar is available to members of The International Solar Energy Society (ISES).

Energy Efficiency Jobs in America 2019 shows the continued growth trajectory of energy efficiency. Now representing a workforce of more than 2.3 million Americans, efficiency has more jobs than any other energy sector. The report explores job distribution beyond the top ten states in detail.

Mesalands Community College Capitalizes on Wind Resource

Wind Energy is one of the fastest growing industries worldwide. The North American Wind Research and Training Center at Mesalands Community College is training well-qualified technicians to help meet the need for an estimated 170,000 new positions in the industry by 2030.

The Wind Energy Technology program provides real-world training experience. Students climb the College’s General Electric 1.5 megawatt ESS wind turbine and may perform actual maintenance and repair. The turbine is owned by the College and is dedicated to training and research. It is fully operational and provides power to the facility. The wind turbine at Mesalands Community College is truly the “Highest Classroom in the World.”

Their Story

A small rural town nestled along the historic Route 66 highway, Tucumcari, New Mexico, was long a destination for filming Hollywood westerns like Clint Eastwood’s “Rawhide.” Today it’s on the verge of economic rebirth built around an emerging wind industry and the resourceful instruction of Mesalands Community College, home of the North American Wind Research and Training Center (NAWRTC)—the first partnership of its kind between a national energy laboratory and a two-year higher education institution in the country.

“This MOU will help Sandia reach one of our wind energy goals—removing barriers for industry through workforce development,” says Jose Zayas, manager of Sandia’s Wind Energy Technology Department.
With an economy largely built on ranching and the trucking and rail industry, Tucumcari lost nearly half its population over the last 20 years as jobs in those sectors disappeared. In response, in 2004 the Mesalands Community College president urged the Governor to help the region capitalize on some of the best natural wind resources in the continental United States. The plan to lure the nascent energy industry to the region included two strategic objectives: attract professionals in wind energy production, research, and experimentation, and develop the capacity to train a workforce with the specific skills the wind industry demands.

Mesalands Community College designed wind energy technician training and certificate programs that create clear paths toward higher-wage jobs for area workers. The college is training electricians, engineering technicians, maintenance and repair technicians, and others to support the 22 wind farms that now dot the area landscape.

State, Federal, and Private Investment

With the training infrastructure in place, Mesaland Community College and its partners secured a $2 million U.S. Department of Labor Community-Based Job Training grant and an additional $7 million from the state to support the development of a 1.5-megawatt wind turbine and a 30,000-square-foot research and training lab—NAWRTC—which opened its doors in September 2010.

Sandia National Laboratories, a government-owned/contractor-operated facility managed by Lockheed Martin for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, signed a memorandum of understanding—the first of its kind between a national laboratory and community college—that enables NAWRTC to collaborate on turbine operations and maintenance, reliability of turbine components, and repair methods.

With a new-generation turbine on campus and a research and teaching/learning lab ready to launch, the stage is set for Mesalands Community College to build a powerful renewable energy workforce. The college plays a central role in helping New Mexico to meet its renewable portfolio standard.

For More Information

Seattle Central Community College Embraces Farm to Table Sustainable Agriculture

Cultivating sustainable agriculture and cooking—economically producing healthy food that does not harm the environment—is an increasingly viable job creation strategy across the country. At Seattle Central Community College (SCCC), the Seattle Culinary Academy—one of the oldest in the country—has been vital to building the city’s sustainable foods industry.
For 60 years the academy has trained chefs and hospitality workers in a city with a bustling restaurant scene and increasing demand for organic, locally produced food. It’s now one of the nation’s first culinary academies to offer formal sustainability courses and infuse sustainable food system principles throughout its entire curriculum.
The academy’s mission statement says it all: “It is our responsibility to teach environmental awareness and make sure that our students understand their responsibility for the health of the planet for future generations. We want them to know that they could indeed make a difference.”

Programs and Partners

SCCC’s fulltime Culinary Arts program, accredited by the American Culinary Federation Education Institute, is a six-quarter certificate or seven-quarter A.A.S. degree course. Students are required to take a series of three one-credit courses: Sustainable Food Systems Practices I and II introduce students to the current ecological, economic, and political issues relating to the food system from producer to consumer. In the third course, students gain a deeper understanding of how climate change affects globalization, politics, and food security and apply this knowledge to purchasing and cooking food. Students also learn from real-life experiences. During a required summer term, they farm an acre of land or attend a weeklong training at the Quillisascut Farm School to practice gardening, composting, and livestock care.

In recognition of the program and its instructors, faculty chefs Karen Jurgenson and Greg Atkinson were nominated as 2010 national finalists for the Chefs Collaborative Sustainability Award, which recognizes exemplary leadership in fostering sustainable food systems.

Tying Training to Regional Geography

As a major metro area within the Puget Sound bioregion, Seattle provides an ideal setting for examining the entire spectrum of food production and consumption. SCCC is taking full advantage of this location through a close partnership between its Culinary Academy and a Sustainable Agriculture Education (SAgE) program—a National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education center that will develop associate degrees and short-term certification programs in sustainable agriculture. Students in this joint program will work together in SCCC’s urban greenhouse, growing herbs for use by on-campus dining halls, saving SCCC about $4,000 a year.

For More Information:

With full enrollment and long waiting lists every year, the Seattle Culinary Academy is in high demand. To learn more about this innovative program, please follow the links and contact below:

Written by the “Climate News Network,” this article provides a synopsis of 47 peer-reviewed research papers by 91 different authors that agree that renewable energy can meet the world’s energy needs by the middle of this century. Not only is it possible to power the world through wind, solar, and water, but this article also discusses the 28.6 million long-term, full-time jobs that will be created through the switch to renewable energies. The article also provides links to various research papers and resources for further reading.

For Automation Systems (BAS) Specialists as well as High Performance Building Operations Professionals (HPBOP). Expand your HVAC program, connect this to a business degree, or create a stand alone program. Demand for these workers outstrips the supply. They can help you be part of its national network of community and technical colleges interested in improving and/or developing new building science technician education programs. The Center will continue to archive model curriculum and disseminate and promote adoption of this model curriculum nationwide.

The Center for Green Schools has multiple free curricular toolkits in green building design, operation, and construction, zero waste, and green careers to help students move into the high job growth area of green building design and construction.